Basic Rocket Propellants

The thrust of a rocket is measured by specific impulse. Though this is similar to measuring a car’s power by its miles per gallon or a foods nutritional value by its calories. Specific impulse is a unit measured in time that a given amount of propellant changes a body’s momentum. Since we know how much momentum is needed to achieve a determined altitude we therefore can use the specific impulse value as a way of finding how much propellant we need.

There are 3 types of rocket propellants; liquid, solid, and hybrid. While their names can give a general sense of what they are liquid fueled rockets have 3 sub varieties; petroleum, cryogenic, and hypergolic. All rocket engines produce thrust through exothermic reactions (burning) between a fuel and an oxidizer. While liquid propellants are pumped into the combustion chamber for the reaction to occur solid fueled rockets have the fuel and oxidizer combined into a solid fuel which once ignited must burn itself out. Hybrid rocket motors generally have a solid fuel which has a liquid oxidizer pumped onto it, allowing the rocket to be stopped and restarted like a liquid fueled rocket motor.

Petroleum was one of the first rocket fuels and continues to be in use today. Mostly just highly refined clean burning kerosene combined with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Both American and Soviet space programs relied heavily on petroleum fueled rockets. Today petroleum is used in the Atlas and Delta II launch vehicles as well as the privately funded Falcon 9 program.

Cryogenic fuels include liquid Hydrogen and liquid methane. However liquid methane rockets have never been used in actual launches. Liquid fluorine is also widely considered to be a liquid fuel however fluorine is in reality an oxidizer, while liquid fluorine is theoretically a very powerful propellant its high toxicity has kept it out of use.

Hypergolic fuels do not require an ignition source to begin their exothermic reactions, when two (or more) hypergolic compounds are brought together they spontaneously combust. This type of propellant is in use on the American Titan family of launch vehicles as well as the burgeoning Indian space program.

Hybrid rocket engines are something relatively new and have made a big splash already as the engines that powered the SpaceShipOne to capture the Ansari X prize. This type of engine will also be used on the following family of space planes developed by Scaled Composites.

Carbon Fiber 101

Carbon Fiber 101
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jason_Helferich]Jason Helferich

Carbon Fiber: What exactly is it??

January 2005

Who out there has heard of carbon fiber? Do you even know what it is? It has become apparent to me over the past few months that almost everyone in the sport compact scene is aware of carbon fiber as it explodes in popularity. It is being used to manufacture everything from the popular hoods to even fenders and interior pieces now. But another thing that became apparent is that although many enthusiasts are aware of it, very few actually know what it is. Well in this month’s column we will discuss where carbon fiber came from, the properties of the material, and how it is used.

Carbon fiber has been around for over fifty years with its earliest history in the aerospace and military industries. It was normally reserved to these industries as the costs of manufacturing carbon fiber were sky high, and cost consideration is low in these two industries. Only in recent years has production of carbon fiber climbed, therefore lowering the price and making its use more widespread.

Carbon fiber can be produced in one of two ways. These are “wet” lay-up and pre-impregnated lay-up processes. The “wet” process has been used since the beginning of composites. It creates molded shapes from glass or carbon fiber and resin. Do-it-yourselfers use this practice extensively as it is the least labor intensive and expensive money wise. When manufactured in the “wet” lay-up, dry fibers are laid into a mold and resin is poured onto them. The resin is then brushed over the fibers in a relatively uncontrolled manner. Resin is added in layers and layers until the desired thickness is achieved. If this process is not performed correctly the fibers can become saturated with resin which causes added weight, and reduced strength and stiffness. This method can also create inconsistent products as certain areas are saturated and others are not thick enough.

Pre-impregnated lay-up has been refined over the past 20 years to create better products with more predictable results. In this method the fibers are pre-impregnated with resin at the factory. It is then rolled onto spools and then frozen to prevent the material from curing too quickly. Materials made by this method are typically 20-30% stronger than “wet” laminate of the same thickness. Pre-impregnated lay-up materials can be cured in one of two ways: vacuum bag compaction and also vacuum bag compaction plus an auto clave. The composite is placed under vacuum bag compaction and is placed into an oven. The resin will then solidify or “glass.” When the autoclave is used it essentially pressure cooks the fibers. The maximum allowable temperature of the cured laminate is used and the continuous temperature is lower. It is normally is between 250 and 350 degrees.

Automakers first began experimenting with carbon fiber in the 1970s. Ford even built an entire car out of carbon fiber composites in 1977. In the 1990s GM manufactured a concept car out of carbon fiber that got 100mpg. The motivation for automakers is to produce vehicles with lower emissions, lighter weight, lower cost and better fuel economy. The problem carbon fiber has presented though in the past is its astronomical price compared to other materials. At one point, it cost $100 per pound versus .40 cents for steel. Nowadays though, the prices are hovering somewhere in the $5-$10 price range and it is making many other industries experiment with the material. Many enthusiasts purchase carbon fiber products solely for the looks, but they offer other benefits as well. Carbon fiber reinforced materials perform at higher rates for strength versus steel and aluminum.

So the next time you think about purchasing a carbon fiber hood or other products, you will know how to investigate the manufacturing of the product to make sure you are getting what you are paying for. Carbon fiber is just getting started with a bright future ahead.

_________________

Jason Helferich [http://www.streetstylecustoms.com]www.streetstylecustoms.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Helferich http://EzineArticles.com/?Carbon-Fiber-101&id=21545

Bulk Metalic Glass

What Is Bulk Metallic Glass? by Brian Reuter

Bulk metallic glass, a.k.a. amorphous metal, appears to have a very bright future. Being twice as strong as titanium, tougher and more elastic than ceramics, and having excellent wear and corrosion resistance makes them attractive for a variety of applications. It can even be cast in a mold to near net shapes.

Conventional Metals

In an ordinary metal the atoms of the metal arrange themselves into a repeating pattern of crystals or grains with different sizes and shapes upon cooling from the liquid state. Because metals typically do not solidify into single crystals, they have inherent weaknesses.

The boundaries between the grains are weak spots and under high enough stress and temperature the grains will slide past each other resulting in metal deformation. In addition, extra atoms are often present in grains causing planes of distortion called dislocations. Dislocations easily move through metal that is under stress, again causing deformation. Grain boundaries and dislocations greatly lower a metals strength compared to its theoretical maximum.

Casting of conventional metals also requires more manufacturing steps than bulk metallic glass. Conventional metals shrink significantly as they cool in the mold from liquid to solid form and often develop surface roughness. Secondary steps are usually required to get at the final product, such as grinding and polishing.

Bulk Metallic Glass

The structure of metallic glass is very different from that of conventional metals. Rather than arranging themselves into repeating patterns of grains, the atoms of metallic glasses are "frozen" in a random, disordered structure, similar to regular window glass. It even has a smooth surface like glass. So smooth, in fact, that paint does not adhere well to metallic glass. It is this amorphous structure, lacking in grain defects, that gives metallic glasses their strength, toughness, hardness, elasticity and corrosion and wear resistance.

First discovered by Pol Duwez in 1960 at Caltech, the technique to create metallic glasses required undercooling a molten metal uniformly and rapidly. Rapidly as in 1,000,000°C per second! The molten metal reaches its glass transition temperature without enough time or energy to crystallize, and instead solidifies as metallic glass. Because the material did not conduct heat well, only thin ribbons of metallic glass could be created because of the uniformity and speed of cooling that was required.

Around 1990 Akihisa Inoue and his team at Tohoku University in Japan discovered new alloys that could form thicker metallic glasses at cooling rates as low at 1°C to 100°C, as long as three conditions were met:

1) Use three or more elements in the alloy
2) The atomic size of the elements must differ from each other by at least 12 percent
3) Use elements that have a strong affinity for each other

Soon after, William Johnson and Atakan Peker at Caltech did the same. The lower cooling rates allowed for thicker materials to be created, up to four inches. These thicker materials are referred to as bulk metallic glass (BMG).

Currently available bulk metallic glasses are malleable at around 400°C, compared to over 1000°C for steel. This allows the material to be processed similarly to polymers, with high volume production via casting up to a thickness of four inches. The material has low shrinkage during solidification and can therefore be cast in near-net shapes with microscale precision. The smooth shiny surface eliminates secondary finishing processes. Scalpels made from bulk metallic glass come out of the mold sharp and ready to use.

Some Disadvantages

As with any material, BMG cannot be everything to every application. Its plastic like manufacturability also means that it cannot be used in high temperature applications, i.e., above 260°C, because it becomes soft and weakened. Pure bulk metallic glasses also exhibit cyclic fatigue from repeated stress. Because of their high elasticity and low plasticity, catastrophic failure occurs after only a small amount of plastic deformation.

BMG Composites

New developments in BMG composites are helping to reduce the limitations of the material. In a BMG composite the BMG is the matrix and a ductile crystalline-phase is the reinforcement material. The reinforcement can either be an added material, such as metal or ceramic fibers, or internally created by precipitating ductile dendrites within the BMG, yielding partial crystallinity. These composites combine the ductility, fracture toughness and plasticity of conventional metals with the high strength of pure BMG.

Applications

BMGs are being examined for or currently used in a wide variety of applications including:

- Industrial coatings for improved wear and corrosion resistance
- As a replacement for depleted uranium in Kinetic Energy Penetrators for the military.
- Casings for cell phones
- Scalpels
- Sporting goods such as bats and tennis racquets
- Jewelry

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also funding a three-year program called Structural Amorphous Metals (SAM). The aim of the program is to demonstrate the viability of BMG in structural applications. Specific applications being investigated include "corrosion-resistant, reduced magnetic mass hull materials; moderate temperature, lightweight alloys for aircraft and rocket propulsion; and wear-resistant machinery components for ground, marine, and air vehicles."

U.S. Patent Situation

Upon examining several patents and class codes on amorphous metals it appears that the main U.S. patent classification codes for these materials are:

148/304 - Amorphous: Stock material which has no regular crystal structure but rather has a series of noncrystalline areas much like a glass.

148/403 - Amorphous, i.e., glassy: Stock material which has no regular crystal structure, but rather has a series of noncrystalline areas much like a glass.

148/561 - Passing through an amorphous state or treating or producing an amorphous metal or alloy: Process wherein a metal or metal alloy having no regular crystalline structure or periodicity (i.e., amorphous) in any amount is produced or treated by a process under the class definition or wherein a metal or metal alloy passes through a physical state having no regular crystalline structure or periodicity during the treatment of the metal or metal alloy.

Guideline examined patents assigned to these codes that were granted during the period from 1987 to 2003. We then compared the top patent holders for the above class codes in terms of number of patents published from 1987 to 2003.

Top BMG Patent Holders from ’87 to ’03

55 patents - YKK Corp.
43 patents - Honeywell
33 patents - Tsuyoshi Masumoto & Unitika Ltd.
26 patents - Akihisa Inoue
15 patents - Alps Electric Co.
14 patents - Koji Hashimoto
13 patents - California Institute of Technology
13 patents - Nippon Steel Corp.
11 patents - Hitachi Ltd.
11 patents - Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

One method Guideline uses to compare patent holders is by calculating an index referred to as Technology Influence. Technology Influence represents how often an assignee’s patents from the previous five years (in this case, 1998-2002) are referenced by patents published in the year of comparison (in this case 2003). A Technology Influence value of 1 represents the average. This shows how much a patent holder’s past technology developments are influencing current development. From this analysis Guideline determined that Caltech’s work has been most influential as their Technology Influence value is 5.06, whereas the next closest value is only 1.46, held by Alps Electric.

Applied Science is another calculation used to compare patent holders. This refers to the average number of non-patent references cited by a patent holder’s patents, such as scientific papers from journals, conference proceedings, etc. This gives an indication of which companies are working on the leading edge. Again, Caltech stands out as a clear leader with an Applied Science value of 7.3. This makes sense considering that Caltech is known to be one of the leaders in developing this technology. As mentioned earlier, metallic glass was first discovered at Caltech.

An analysis of patent assignees and inventors revealed that Akihisa Inoue has done extensive work and collaboration. He is listed as an inventor or co-inventor on a little over 60 patents with about 120 other Japanese researchers. All of this work was done with the following Japanese organizations, and this is only in regards to U.S. patents.

- Tsuyoshi Masumoto and Unitika, Limited
- Teikoku Piston Ring Company Limited
- Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
- YKK Corporation
- Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Yamaha Corporation
- Japan Science and Technology Corporation
- Unitika Ltd.
- Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Research Development Corporation of Japan
- Japan Metals & Chemicals Co., Ltd.
- Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
- Mitsubishi Materials Corporation

Indeed, Inoue led a five year project sponsored by the Japanese government (Inoue Supercooled Liquid Glass Project), which reported the development of a less expensive copper alloy based BMG with a tensile strength over 2 Gpa. Currently Inoue is leading a five-year project sponsored by the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

Although Inoue has done the most extensive work in terms of U.S. patenting on amorphous and glassy metal technology, the work being done by William Johnson’s group at Caltech appears to be having a larger impact on the overall body of work in U.S. patents over recent years.



Brian Reuter is Director of Product Realization at Guideline, Inc. Guideline provides research, product realization, expert witness and consulting services. Learn more at www.intota.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Rocket Propulsion into Space

The physical law under which rockets operate was first set down almost three hundred years ago by Sir Isaac Newton, an English mathematician, without whose work our exciting space explorations of today would be impossible. This law states that to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The recoil of a gun when it is fired is an example of the forces of action and reaction at work.

The action of the gases exhausting from a rocket's nozzles at great speed produces a reaction of equal force against the inner walls of the rocket, and it is this force which propels it. This is why the rocket is the only suitable device for space travel - it is completely self-contained and independent of any external force for its power. An airplane must have air to sustain it in flight and to provide the oxygen needed to make its fuel burn. But the rocket needs nothing. It does not need air to support it, and it carries its own oxidizer right on board.

The reaction force or push produced by a rocket engine is called thrust, and this power is expressed in terms of pounds. The thrust power of a rocket indicates how much weight it is capable of moving at or near the surface of the earth. If a particular rocket engine has a thrust of 100,000 pounds, this means it can lift or propel that much weight.

Our rocket-propelled missiles of today operate much like a bullet or an artillery shell. The engines which "fire" them burn for only seconds - after that it is momentum that carries the rocket forward. For instance, on a forty-minute 4,000-mile flight, an intercontinental ballistic missile is under power for only about 200 seconds. The speed it has gained while its engines were burning then carries it along on course until it eventually loses momentum and, like an artillery shell, arches over and falls to the earth. The course followed by an artillery shell or by a rocket-propelled missile while it is in flight is called its "trajectory."

Unlike a bullet or shell, which is guided only while it is in the barrel of the gun, many of our missiles of today are guided while in flight. This is done in a number of ways. Sometimes electronic controls within the missile itself make adjustments in its flight path. Other missiles are guided by command signals radioed from the ground. However, our long-range missiles (the intermediate-range ballistic missiles and the inter-continental ballistic missiles) are guided only while their engines are burning. Once their fuel is exhausted no further changes can be made in their course and they follow a trajectory to their target, just like a bullet or shell.

Some rocket missiles and all the rockets used for space experiments are made up of two or more stages fastened together, each with its own engine or engines. The stages drop off! When their engines burn out, that is, when their fuel is consumed, and the next stage takes over to push the warhead to its target or the pay-load (or cargo) out into space.

Overview of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two

A SpaceShipTwo model was shown to reporters for the first time in January 2008. The SpaceShipTwo is the worlds first commercial space craft. The SpaceShipTwo will carry 6 passengers, or space tourists as they are being referred to, 110 km above the Earth’s Surface and into space. While the SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital passenger ship offering little more than a view of earth from space and a few minutes of weightlessness. SpaceShipThree, part of the tier two program of Scaled Composites space program, will be an orbital spacecraft with the ability to dock with the International Space Station.

The cabin of SpaceShipTwo is 12 ft long and 7.5 ft wide, which is larger than a Hummer H1. In the cabin are 2 crew and 6 passengers. Once in space the passengers will have several minutes to release their seatbelts and to enjoy the sensation of weightlessness. While much has been made of the initial $200,000 price tag for the trip considering that this is merely for a demonstration flight and that in the 1930’s the cost, when adjusted for inflation, to fly across the Atlantic ocean one-way in coach was approximately $47,000. Later passengers on SpaceShipTwo will likely pay $100,000 per flight.

The White Knight Two which will be functioning as the mothership for the SpaceShipTwo is a double fuselage aircraft with 4 jet engines capable of reaching 60,000 ft. The White Knight Two will serve many functions. One of its hulls is an exact replica of SpaceShipTwo allowing passengers to train before the actual space flight. The other hull of the White Knight Two will also carry passengers, these passengers however will only be taken as high as the stratosphere, the 60,000 ft altitude limit of the White Knight Two. The main function of the White Knight is to carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 50,000 ft then release it to do its climb into space. The White Knight Two is not only the largest aircraft made by Scaled Composites but the largest all composite aircraft ever built.

The first test flights will begin in July of 2008 and commercial flights should begin in 2009.

Al-Li, Aluminum Lithium Alloys

Lithium is the least dense elemental metal. When combined with aluminum to produce Al-Li alloys every 1% increase in lithium to the mix results in a 3% reduction in the density and therefore the weight of the resulting alloy the modulus also increases by approximately 5%. In addition to reduced weight Al-Li alloys also have increased stiffness, high elastic modulus, fatigue and cryogenic durability(the 3rd generation of Space Shuttle external fuel tanks are made of Al-Li alloy), however the increased stiffness of Al-Li alloys means reduced ductility and fracture resistance in the short transverse direction. Al-Li alloys have a high resistance to fatigue crack growth because of the jagged path cracks must follow through the alloy.

Some Al-Li alloys that are commercially available are: Alloy 2090 developed as a replacement for 7075-T6, offering 8% lower density and 10% higher stiffness than the conventional alloy that is used heavily in aircraft structures. The 2090 alloy also has a higher corrosion resistance in salt-spray (marine) environment than 7075-T6. Alloy 2091 developed as a replacement for conventional aluminum alloy 2024-T3, offering 8% lower density and 7% higher modulus as well as superior damage tolerance. Alloy 8090 developed as a replacement for some of the most long serving of the commercial aluminum alloys, namely 2014 and 2024. Alloy 8090 has 10% lower density and 11% higher modulus than these conventional counterparts, and 8090 exhibits superior mechanical properties at cryogenic temperatures. Weldalite 049 a weldable Al-Li alloy designed to replace 2219 and 2014 in spacecraft launch systems. The density of Weldalite 049 is 2.7 g/cm3 (about the same as its conventional counterparts), it has about 5% higher modulus than 2024, and tensile strengths of forged parts in excess of 700 MPa have been reported.

Al-Li is typically 3-5 times more expensive than other aluminum alloys due to the high cost of Lithium as well as high processing and handling costs. Al-Li alloys are typically used in the construction of aircraft wing edges and access covers. Military and space applications are also common as main wing boxes and main fuselage. Al-Li alloys should not be combined with some other aluminum alloys as there is a potential for explosive reactions.

Beyond the X-Prize

Beyond the Ansari X PRIZE
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Will_Gibson]Will Gibson

It's just passed the thirtieth anniversary of the last man even to visit the moon and in an attempt to get a flagging space travel sector going the Ansari X PRIZE has been awarded to SpaceShipOne for matching and then slightly exceed the performance of the old X-15 spaceplane of nearly fifty years ago.

Is this then end? Will space travel taper off into a few high altitude fun rides to give pleasure to the rich and slightly famous? Maybe not - here looks at a different way that brings us back to the expectations of the 1930s not the let downs of the 1980s.

The popular media and fantasy fiction surround us with a lot of talk about exotic spaceship propulsion systems - talking about them gives the impression of progress - they sound cool and impressive without having to run the risk of anyone ever being expected to deliver on them. Let's look at what we are going to discount here. There's Anti-matter, Catapult Launchers, Laser Propulsion, Microwaves Propulsion (actually first postulated in the 1930's by E.E.Doc Smith), Magnetic Sails, Space Sails, Nuclear Fusion, Space elevators, Zero-point energy. The problem is we don't have the technology to hand for any of these- so they are all pretty much pie-in-the sky - certainly no-one reading this article now is going to be using them personally in their own lifetime.

So what is the answer? Is there a technology that would allow cheap, reliable reusable spaceships today? Surprisingly the answer is YES! Are we going to get them? Very possibility.

So what are they? Well its called the Nuclear thermal rocket, the prototypes were made thirty years ago and work just fine - and the time to get them might be just in the next ten years.

So how do they work?

In a nuclear thermal rocket a working fluid, which can be plain ordinary water, is heated in a high temperature nuclear reactor, and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. The nuclear reactor's energy replaces the chemical energy of the reactive chemicals in a traditional rocket engine. Due to the high energy of the nuclear reactions compared to chemical ones, over 100 times, the resulting efficiency of the engine is at least twice as good as chemical engines even considering the weight of the reactor. The ship doesn't have to very anything fancy - all the super lightweight materials and astronomical costs, and the need for multiple stage rockets - having to throw most of your spaceship away every time - all comes from the low thrust of chemical rockets. So the bottom line is that a a nuclear thermal rocket like the Timberwind 75 put into a tried and tested load carrier like the old German A4 (over three thousand were made as V2s - and back again in the Ansari X PRIZE entrant - Canadian Arrow) would make a simple reusable vehicle that could with refuelling travel anywhere in the solar system with an effective payload and capacity about the same as a VW Combi van or Landrover.

The Timberwind 75 is a design that uses a conventional (albeit light-weight) nuclear reactor running at high temperatures to heat the working fluid that is moving through the reactor core. This is known as the solid-core design, is simple to construct and are the only nuclear thermal rocket ever built. Development of such engines started under the aegis of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1956 as Project Rover, with work on a suitable reactor starting at LANL. Two basic designs came from this project, Kiwi and NRX in the late '50s.

More recently an advanced engine design was studied under Project Timberwind, under the aegis of the Strategic Defence Initiative ("Star Wars"), which was later expanded into a larger design in the Space Thermal Nuclear Propulsion (STNP) program. Advances in high-temperature metals, computer modelling and nuclear engineering in general resulted in dramatically improved performance. It used to be thought that solid-core engines would only really be useful for upper-stage uses where the vehicle is already in orbit, or close to it, or launching from a lower gravity planet, moon or minor planet where the required thrust is lower, and that to be a useful Earth launch engine, the system would have to be either much lighter, or provide even higher specific impulse. However using 1990s technology instead of 1950s technology means that Timberwind 75 would be a great "drop-in" powerplant for an A4 with a virtually identical mass and size. Although the thrust is reduced to just 13 tonnes (165347 lbf or 735.5 kN) the increased burn time allows for achieving not just low earth orbit but actually escape velocity making this a true reusable space vehicle. With orbital refueling the range and capability would be greatly enhanced and of course by coming down tail first under power the thermal risks that destroyed the shuttle Columbia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle_thermal_protection_system ]

And what of the risks? With modern fear of technological failure - where enough stress is caused seeing something going wrong on a screen rather than real life - is this something that anyone can bear to face! Well, atmospheric or orbital rocket failure could result in fallout. However given that oxide reactor elements are designed to withstand high temperatures (up to 3500 K) and high pressures (up to 200 atm normal operating pressures) it's highly unlikely a reactor's fuel elements would be reduced to powder and spread over a wide-area. More likely highly radioactive fuel elements would be dispersed intact over a much smaller area, and the overall hazard from the elements would be confined and much lower than the many open-air nuclear weapons tests that have been carried out.

So how is it going to happen? Where is the will to explore and colonize space today? US development of the project was end due to pressure from anti-nuclear lobby in the United States in the early 1970s, but elsewhere Hu Jintao seems to have a taste for serious space development and together with their strong interest in pebble bed modular reactors (PBMR) and the commitment to Project 921-2 - the Chinese Station Station - this may be where the next generation of development might come from. So we might not see the first generations of cheap, reuseable spaceships launching from but perhaps from Xichang.

------
The Engine: Timberwind 75 Specifications

Vacuum thrust: 165347 lbf (735.5 kN) * Sea level thrust: 147160 lbf (654.6 kN) * Vacuum specific impulse: 1000 s * Sea level specific impulse: 890 s * Engine mass: 5500 lb (2500 kg) * Thrust to Weight Ratio: 30 * Burn time: 357 s * Propellants: Nuclear/LH2 The Ship: A-4 technical overview

These are the original specifications for the A4 as it actually flew using chemical engines and 1940s technology. With the Timberwind 75 motor engine burn time, maximum speed and altitude would be far higher while the fuel would be replaced with liquid hydrogen or water as a propellant.



Length 14.03 meters

Maximum diameter: 1.68 meters

Launch weight: 12,870 kilograms (including 9600 kilograms payload and H2O2+Alcohol fuel)

Engine burn time: 70 seconds Maximum speed: 5,760 kilometers per hour Maximum range: 330 kilometers Maximum altitude: 96 kilometers Engine thrust on the surface: 26 tons Engine thrust at high altitude: 30 tons Payload: 900 - 1,000 kilograms Fuel mass (alcohol): 3.6 tons Oxidizer mass (liquid oxygen): 5 tons http://nationalwebdesign.co.uk/

National Web Design

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Will_Gibson http://EzineArticles.com/?Beyond-the-Ansari-X-PRIZE&id=438007

Lunar Outpost For a Trip to Mars

A Lunar Outpost For A Journey To Mars
By James W Smith

In the year 2004, American President, George W. Bush, outlined goals for NASA after the completion of the International Space Station in 2010. Bush stated that " our... goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014. The Crew Exploration Vehicle will be capable of ferrying astronauts and scientists to the Space Station after the shuttle is retired. But the main purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts beyond our orbit to other worlds. This will be the first spacecraft of its kind since the Apollo Command Module".

Bush continued: "Our next goal is to return to the Moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond. Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the Moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods".

The planning by NASA for the lunar mission outlined in that 2004 speech by President Bush is well underway. In fact, the plan encourages participation by other nations of the world. In addition, NASA also envisions participation by non-governmental organizations and commercial groups. NASA is interested in international participation in the project similar to the International Space Station mission.

The name of the program to return astronauts to the Moon is "Constellation". Constellation is developing new spacecraft and is expected to be fully operational by 2016. The Constellation program requires the development of launchers called Ares rockets. These Ares launchers are named for the Greek god associated with Mars. These launchers will return humans to the Moon and later take them to Mars and other destinations.

NASA's Orion spacecraft (now in development) is America's first new manned spacecraft since the space shuttle 30 years ago. Orion will be capable of carrying crew and cargo to the International Space Station after 2010. Orion will be the Earth entry vehicle for lunar and Mars returns. Orion's design will borrow its shape from the capsules of the past, but it will take advantage of modern technology in computers, electronics, life support, propulsion, and heat protection systems.

The U.S. Space Agency plans to create a solar powered, manned outpost on the Moon. The final decision concerning the location of that outpost will be made after NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) begins to survey the Moon in 2008. In fact, the scheduled launch event in October of 2008 of this robotic probe (with its laser altimeter and other instruments) is a mission designed to produce an accurate global map of the Moon for all upcoming expeditions there.

However, it may be that NASA scientists already have a potential spot for a manned outpost in mind. An area that is already receiving attention by NASA's lunar architecture team is at the South Pole in a spot on the rim of Shackleton Crater. The area is almost always sunlit, but it is also adjacent to a permanently dark location. Wherever it is located, the outpost on the Moon would be built in incremental steps, starting with four person crews making several seven day visits.

It is projected that the first mission to develop the lunar outpost would begin by 2020. The base would grow over time into a lunar town, beefed up with more power, mobility rovers, and living quarters. The Moon base would eventually support 180 day lunar stays. This stretch of time is seen as the best way to establish a permanent presence there. By going to the Moon for extended periods of time, astronauts will search for resources and learn how to work safely in a harsh environment to prepare for a future human exploration of Mars.

Thirty-five years ago this week, Astronauts Gene Cernan, Ron Evans, and Jack Schmitt were early explorers on the surface of the Moon. Today, NASA is planning not only for a visit, but also for a permanent base on the surface of the Moon by astronauts in the year 2020.

The long term goal of future space exploration for NASA was outlined by President George Bush in his speech in 2004. Several years later, the planning, development and logistics of this mission are on schedule. The Constellation program has taken the initial steps to make a manned lunar outpost for a journey to Mars a future reality.

James William Smith has worked in Senior management positions for some of the largest Financial Services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. He has always been interested in writing and listening to different viewpoints on interesting topics.

Visit his website at http://www.eworldvu.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_W_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Lunar-Outpost-For-A-Journey-To-Mars&id=882456

Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields

Pulsed Electro Maganetic Field (PEMF) - 4 Year Study By NASA
By Dottiedee Glass

Do you know what NASA has given us that isn't well known in our part of the world, yet it is used daily in many parts of the world for pain relief, relaxation, cell regeneration, etc.?

Why are we kept in the dark about certain inventions and studies of NASA when knowing about them could make a big difference in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones or anyone suffering discomforts in their body?

There are many inventions in our daily lives we just take for granted never giving a thought to where they originate, or who invented them. I want to share with you today one of these kept "secrets" we are not aware of, thus, we are being cheated from the benefits of this space technology.

Since 1976 there are about 1,400 documented NASA inventions that we can benefit from in the quality of life, in jobs created, and in health care.

We have heard of kidney dialysis machines, but how many of us know they came as a result of NASA developing a chemical process to remove toxic waste from used dialysis fluid?

Don't most of us know someone who has had a CAT scan or had one ourselves when doctors are searching for tumors or other abnormalities? How many of us know this technology was first used as in inspection system in aerospace structures to find imperfections?

Do you know of anyone with a cardiovascular condition? Since astronauts develop cardiovascular conditions in space, the development of a physical therapy and athletic development machine was invented.

The list goes on, however, I want to share one that is very dear to my heart.

It is my desire to share with you a collaborative 4-year study (NASA/TP-2003-212054) on the efficacy of pulsed electromagnetic fields when it comes to stimulating growth and repair in tissues of mammals.

The Chief Investigators were Robert Dennis Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and Thomas J Goodwin Ph.D. from the Lynden B Johnson Space Center and you haven't heard of either one of them have you? Why?

The study was to find the most effective electromagnetic fields to enhance growth and repair of tissues of mammals.

The Pulsed Electrical-Magnetic Field (PEMF) used in the study caused accelerated growth in the cells observed.

Extended from these studies, we have medical research on PEMF with some very astounding results for patients suffering many different pains.

Medical research with PEMF technology showed may benefits when used in the following list of some of the discomforts research.

How many of us know people who suffer pains from old injuries or from a diseased body?

Do you know of anyone who is miserable with swellings? They many have swollen knees, ankles and what can they do to get relief?

Do we know the cause of the swellings and is there a way to remove the cause so the body can function daily without swellings?

How many people are walking around with Osteo Arthritis and don't even know they have it, until they are in so much pain they will pop any pill in hopes of having some relief from the excruciating pains?

What about the crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis? Have you see someone with distorted limbs or hands all from Rheumatoid Arthritis? What is it that NASA has used in Medical Research that would show results in improvement for these people?

Have you known of someone who has been wounded and his or her wounds don't heal like expected? What if they knew about this technology and could use it for healing, don't you think they would be grateful?

What about Bone Fractures that are not joining back together? What if we could tell them about this wonderful technology that Medical Research has shown gives desirable results?

Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field research shows this technology to be valuable when working with connective tissue (cartilage) pains and discomforts.

PEMF has been successful with nerve tissue regeneration also. How many walk around with nerve damage and suffer greatly daily?

The list goes on and on even for those who are distraught by depression, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, insomnia, migraine headache, Parkinson's, Alzheimers, incontinence, inflammatory disease, heart disease, cancer, tinnitus and the list goes on.

I would like for each of you to take the time to do some of your own research and read the study report at www.PEMFstudies.com/NASA.htm.

After searching this out, I think you will know why I have been working with the PEMF technology for my well being, youthfulness, pain free living.

Dottiedee is known for her ability to search out and assist others in finding solutions in their lives to create health. She is specializing in assisting those who are suffering from poor cellular metabolism to restore their health by using pemf technology.

Dottiedee has personal experience in creating physical, mental, spiritual, and financial happiness. Dottiedee invites you to join her in living a life of happiness.

Dottiedee In The Land of Happiness, E-mail: TheDottiedee@gmail.com blog: http://dottiedee.org/

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How Cold Is Space?

How Cold is Space?
By Rudolph Draaisma

Do you think space, or rather the vacuum, is cold? During my survey on the web during the past few months, it clearly showed that most people would answer yes to that question.

Fact is that only matter can have a temperature, which is the speed of its molecules. The faster the molecules in a material move, the warmer that material is. Per definition, an absolute vacuum is a void, nothingness and therefore it cannot have any temperature. In as far as the space of the Universe is an absolute vacuum, that space cannot have any temperature and it is thus not "cold".

However, an absolute vacuum does not really exist; there are molecules whirling around everywhere in space. Actually, some recent theories say that all these molecules whirling around, constitute more mass than all the visible galaxies contain together - it's called "dark matter". Even so, the density of these molecules is so incredibly low, that in practical terms, as far as space technology is concerned, interplanetary space behaves as an absolute vacuum. Even the Moon, that actually does have an atmosphere in the sense that the density of its gas molecules is considerably higher than in "free" space, can yet be seen as an absolute vacuum environment in practical terms for human activity there. This means that the molecules that are there, do not have a measurable contact (convection) heat exchange effect with other materials around and thus a Moon vehicle or base on the Moon can neither be cooled, nor heated by these molecules. The same is valid for space vehicles traveling around in the Solar System; they also have no measurable heat exchange with the molecules moving in the vacuum around.

Even on Mars, that has a well defined atmosphere, such heat exchange effects would not have much significance for human activity there, though it would be noticeable nonetheless. Surely, the air temperature on Mars can locally come up to plus 30 degr. C, but that doesn't mean you would "feel" it, the same as on Earth, because the Mars air is so much thinner. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is just 6 mbar, compared to Earth's atmospheric pressure of 1000 mbar. No industrial "vacuum" pump on Earth could reach such a low pressure and it is yet called a vacuum pump. Hence, in technical terms, also Mars could be seen as a vacuum environment for astronauts, just not an absolute one, as it is on the Moon.

This all means that space, the vacuum, is a perfect temperature insulator for convection heat. The only heat exchange that can be done between bodies in the vacuum is through radiation, because the vacuum lets electromagnetic energy pass through. Very fortunate, so we can get light and warmth from the Sun, all being electromagnetic radiation. The frequency of this radiation is a measure for how much energy it transmits. The higher the frequency, the more powerful the radiation is and usually penetrates deeper into materials. X-rays have a very high frequency and are therefore powerful enough to penetrate our bodies, which for example is used in medical applications. Gamma rays are even more powerful and are generated by decaying atoms - nuclear radiation. Heat radiation is called infra-red, because the color red is the lower frequency limit of what our eyes can see (violet the upper).

Infra-red has a too low frequency for our eyes to see and we feel it as heat instead. Its frequency relates to the temperature of the emitting body, the higher the frequency, the warmer that body is. This causes the so called green-house effect, because certain materials are more transparent for higher than for lower frequencies. The surface temperature of the Sun is 6000 Kelvin and the according frequency can penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. As it hits the ground, most of it gets absorbed and warms up the ground material - ever noticed how hot beach sand can be?

However, the thus generated temperatures are much lower (fortunately) than that of the Sun and the Earth's atmosphere is not transparent for the according lower frequencies and so it warms up, partially by absorbing the energy that the warm ground radiates off and partially through convection heat exchange between air and ground material molecules and part by what it absorbs itself directly. The same principle is valid for glass and that's why your car gets so hot inside, when it is parked in the sun. Likewise the temperature in green houses rise above surrounding air temperatures, as is the purpose of those.

The warm atmosphere of the Earth radiates off heat into space at a far lower frequency than what it received from the Sun and this heat disperses into space, without "warming" it up. Space, the vacuum, cannot have a temperature and so the heat energy that the Earth's atmosphere radiates off, disperses into larger and larger volumes of "nothingness". The Earth is thus not cooled by any "cold" space, because that would require convection, which the vacuum cannot provide.

Likewise, the distant planets are very cold, because they receive very little energy from the Sun, not because they are surrounded by "cold" space. Any object in "dark" space, not receiving any heat, nor generating any itself, will become extremely cold, as it radiates off whatever little it still has. How cold, we'll see at the end of this article.

The average temperature of the Earth is determined by a balance between received and given off heat energy. The atmosphere's temperature stabilizes there where both amounts are the same. Hence, the Earth gives off as much energy as it receives from the Sun; nothing is "consumed", or "used" as many erroneously think. The same is valid for a green-house and you car parked in the sun; the inner temperature stabilizes at a value where energy balance is reached.

Of course, not all the solar energy that hits the Earth is absorbed by it. Much of it is reflected back into space. From the rest, the atmosphere absorbs a part itself and lets through a part to reach the surface. As long as the properties of the atmosphere do not change, the Earth's global temperature will not change, but if we bring about noticeable changes with our emissions of whatever gases, anything can happen. The Earth can become cooler or warmer. Today the talk is about global warming, but there are scientists who argue for a risk of global cooling also. In the end, nobody knows for sure, because the heat household of the atmosphere is a very complicated system, with many unknown parameters.

However, if it ever would happen that we release so much heat from fuels, that it becomes a noticeable part of the Earth's total energy household, we would indeed warm up Earth by it. I don't think that ever will happen, it's just a theoretical exercise, but we do cause heat-pollution locally, warming up waters around large power plants that are cooled by them and it affects the biological systems there.

On Earth, cars, greenhouses and whatever other structures, are heavily cooled by the surrounding air, especially if there is wind blowing around them. Not so on the Moon for example. If you see science-fiction designs of huge glass cupolas on the Moon and space-crafts with large glass windows all around, you are basically looking at ovens. If exposed to sunlight, they would self-destruct by overheat, unless practically all of the solar heat is reflected (not absorbed !) by such glass, or whatever transparent material. Even then, such habitats are additionally heated by the body heat of people in there and by the power supplies to run technical systems (all energy decays to heat at ambient temperature - Second Law of Thermo). All that heat must be radiated off also.

How cold can an object in "dark" space become? Many say 3 Kelvin, which is the "temperature" of the cosmic background radiation (actually 2.7 K). This radiation is assumed to be a remnant of the Big-Bang and its frequency corresponds with 3 Kelvin. Many think erroneously that this is the temperature of space, but that is of course not true. An object in deep, deep dark space can become colder than 3 Kelvin, but the Second Law of Thermo says it can never become 0 Kelvin, because 0 Kelvin is not a temperature - it is the absence of it, "nothingness", a void. Matter as we know it, cannot exist at 0 Kelvin,

However, this is not agreed upon by all scientists. Look for the "Third Law of Thermodynamics" in a search engine and you will find it - I personally do not agree with that "law".

Rudolph N. J. Draaisma

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Settlements on the Moon

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Applied for a New Job

I applied for a new job over the weekend and have spent the last several days making sure that if I can get an interview I'll have the job. Mostly just a bunch of learning about their company and reviewing "Basic Electronics" an old Naval personnel Training manual.

I've also found a bunch of new links to other space advocacy sites. I'll be going through them in the next several days and writing a series of articles updating their information. It shouldn't be that difficult though the newest articles I could date on the other sites was from 2004, most of them were from the late 1990's.

I also am going to start doing some research on Aluminum-Lithium alloys and how they are produced and how much it costs to work with them. Figuring that many of the parts that could be used to build a manned space craft are already commercially available I'm going to try getting information on those things that will need to be custom made for any particular craft. Such as the hull.

If everything goes as expected I'll have some articles ready to post by Thursday.

Transporter Technology

One of the most influential technologies used on the television series Star Trek is the Transporter system. Where crew members are "beamed" large distances in a "matter stream" to a selected target area.

I know that the government has commisioned studies to explore the feasability of such items and that the technology found most probable to exist was a Star Gate like transportation system.

It is rumored that this was the technology that Chinese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee was working on when he was accussed of selling secrets to the Chinese government.

While I doubt that I will ever see or use such a technology I think it is important that I keep alive the hope of future generations flying or whatever it will be called across the galaxy.

While there were several other transporter like technologies that were investigated, remember, Gate travel may very well be the first one seen by human beings.

Solar Forges

Something that can be done cheaper and easier in space is metal proccessing. A solar forge works by focusing the light from the sun onto and object. Just like torturing ants with a magnifying glass, except in space where the light and heat from the sun is not dispersed in the Earth's atmosphere.

Experiments done on Earth by McDonnell Douglas using simulated lunar soil were able to make many unique materials with incredible properties. An industrial scale space based solar forge could provide the economic base for a future space colony. Which would undoubtedly need human operators on site in some capacity.

A space based solar forge is simple to build, its basically a bunch of mirrors. Combined with an asteroid mining operation a solar forge would revolutionize both earth based metals mining as well as materials sciences.

Asteroid Mining

The potential profit from an asteroid mining operation are mind boggling. Consider that an average 1 kilometer wide asteroid contains 2X more iron-nickel ore than all of the iron ore mined in 2004. In addition that very same asteroid contains many other materials as well, that same 1 km wide asteroid would contain approximately $150,000,000,000.00 in platinum. Yes $150 Billion dollars in platinum from a single asteroid!

Consider for a moment that the average drillship for offshore oil exploration costs around $535 million dollars to build. In the first 4 years of the 1980's when oil was below $35 a barrel over $12 billion dollars was spent building offshore oil rigs.

While spacecraft my seem expensive to you and me, for example using a Falcon 9 Heavy Lift booster to send a large craft into a Geosynchronous Transitory Orbit (GTO) is $78 million just for the launch. Development and constuction of an asteroid miner may be well over $100 million. The costs from the perspective of major industries on earth is trivial. The costs of space commerce are in the Millions, the benefits are in the Billions. Could asteroid mining have a return on investment of over 1000%, I think the answer is a definite yes.

$12 billion dollars is defintely enough to build and launch a profitable robotic miner into the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. All the craft would really have to do would be to "grab" a particular asteroid and begin ferrying it back to earth. By which time a processing facility may be built as well as a means of transporting large quantities of either refined ore or processed metals to Earth's surface.

Getting the material from space back to Earth is where I see the main challenge. How do you get several hundred tons of metal safely to Earth's surface for further processing? I doubt that anyone would just let it rain to the surface although this would be simple and cost effective.Ferrying craft like a Soyuz type lander could very well be cost prohibitive. Would it be possible to transform the metals into a shape that could be flown down to Earth itself? Could a processed asteroid be constructed into a simple kind of descent glider to transport the valuable materials to Earth safely?

Asteroid mining is how the my future in space is really going to get its start. I just need to convince people that it really isn't impossible. Not only that, it's actually relatively simple.

Dreams about Radar Equipment

I remember hearing the downfall of the original SPY-1 radar system while I was studying satellite communications equipment in the Navy. It kept picking up what was assumed to a phantom coastline. One night while looking out a the night sky a bridge officer on some early SPY equipped ship. Noticed, low on the horizon, on the same bearing as this phantom coast was. The culprit behind several problems facing the original SPY radar. It was just too powerful. Looking out at the moon and comparing its surface with the phantom coast being returned he realized what the radar system was really looking at.

While the D version of SPY has a fix for some of these problems it's capabilities are even more mind-boggling. And yet, the United States government is selling ships equipped with this radar system to foreign governments all around the world. Simply telling me that buying something like it or even just plans and parts to build your own is possible. I know we've sold these to Taiwan for defense from China, but haven't you ever noticed many Taiwanese and their politicians seek re-unification with the main land? It would be possible to get a good sensor radar for your ship when heading out into the solar system, all I'm saying.

While I'm not going to tell you everything I know about SPY, as far as I know its still considered secret, but I can think of a lot of amazing applications for something like it on a commercial or private space craft. Consider asteroid mining for instance, combined with a DARPA Grand Challenge derived autopilot system could a fair sized probe be able to break up and capture materials form the asteroid belts? Could they be built in a way that makes them more profitable than present open pit mining?

Would they be needed on large scale interplanetary craft? Larger than the current International Space Station is what I'd like to see zipping between planets.

For most its probably just a useless expense to equip a ship with such equipment. But I'm here because I like to imagine, and the possibilities just get me dreaming about the distant future. I think I even got the idea watching Star Trek last night

CEV Orion Overview

The Orion spacecraft should be making its début this year (2008). This new capsule type spacecraft from NASA is designed after the old Apollo spacecraft that were used to take the first and so far only manned missions to the moons surface. The Orion will be replacing the aging Space Shuttle fleet which is due to be grounded in 2010. The Orion is scheduled to make its first manned mission in 2012, though that is very likely to get pushed back.

Most obvious among the developments being incorporated into the Orion craft are its “glass cockpit” based on the digital systems used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. These flight controls are a major step up from the lights, buttons, and switches which the Apollo astronauts had to deal with.

The Orion Craft also has improved waste removal systems like those on the International Space Station so astronauts onboard Orion will no longer have to dispose of bodily waste in plastic bags.

Orion will have what is probably the most advanced computer system ever incorporated into a manned spacecraft. Orion will have an advanced auto-dock feature for connecting to the International Space Station.

The hull of Orion will be made primarily of Aluminum-Lithium alloy to reduce weight, with a PICA heat shield.

While Apollo astronauts had to be rescued at sea after arriving on earth the new Orion will be capable of landing on, well, land. Although NASA apparently has not decided whether this will be by parachute, retro rockets or airbags the only reason they have at this point for not incorporating this type of landing would be weight restrictions. Which leaves open the possibility of different missions using different types of landings.

Orion is meant to be reusable however reusable for Orion will be approximately 10 missions. Each mission will carry between 4 and 6 astronauts. The astronauts will, like Apollo astronauts have both a command module which they will remain in for lift-off and landing, as well as a service module which may be used for an eventual Moon or Mars landing.

NASA’s stage 2 development of the Orion includes preparations for flights lasting “many months”. Since the vehicle is being designed for a manned trip to Mars and near-by asteroids this would probably mean that the Orion is capable of maintaining astronauts for up to 2 years in space. Stage 3 would be the development of landers for the Moon and Mars.

Introduction to Life Support systems

Life support systems are made up of many different parts, as there is not just one thing needed to maintain life. Life support systems often include systems for maintaining correct temperature levels for people as well as oxygen and air pressure levels. Another part of the Life support system is the actual hull of the craft, will you need to protect your crew from specific kinds of radiation or impacts by space debris? Waste removal systems are also needed for long term space flight. What are you going to do with hair, finger nail clippings and dead skin cells.

Will you be using an open loop system where trash and supplies are taken to/from your vessel by another ship or will you be using a regenerative system where plants, fish and bacteria deal with your waste and produce fresh air and water in return? Will you use a biological recycling process with plants and fish solely or will you supplement it with chemical CO2 scrubbers and water filtration systems?

According to NASA the average person goes through about 5kg per day of food water and air to survive and function properly. Will you be storing and later disposing of this weight or will it be recycled in some way. Is your ship going to operate more like a modern submarine or more like a biosphere.

Will your life support system be total like on a space shuttle or a single space capsule or will it be segmented to allow for additions to the craft, is your ship going to be one big piece or many that are combined together?

The basic elements for life support systems are present in submarines and high altitude balloons not just space craft. Terrariums are an excellent and in expensive way to get started experimenting with life support systems. Can you engineer a terrarium that will keep a mouse or a guinea pig alive for several weeks after all cracks have been thoroughly sealed? Remember to find out how much your animal life will be consuming everyday (food, air and water) as well as how much your plant and bacterial life will be exchanging with it.

Basics of rocket propulsion

Basics of rocket propulsion.

This article discusses 2 main types of rocket propulsion, solid and liquid fueled. Another type of rocket propulsion which would be electromagnetic thrusters such as ion and plasma thrusters. However these methods are more appropriate for long duration flights as their thrust is less but their efficiency is much greater than traditional chemical rockets.

Both solid fueled and liquid fueled rockets use a combination of fuel and oxidizer to ignite a fire inside the combustion chamber which is then forced out of the nozzle at great speed, 10x the speed of sound at sea level is not unheard of.

The thrust from this reaction is mostly placed on the bell housing of the nozzle. As the gases inside the combustion chamber try to escape they push against the walls of the nozzle propelling the rocket forward. The more pressure applied to the combustion chamber and nozzle driving the rocket forward the more efficient the rocket is.

There are several ways of increasing the pressure released by the combustion of fuel/oxidizer. One is to pump these chemicals to very high pressures before they are injected into the combustion chamber. Another is to heat the fuel as high as possible before entering the combustion chamber. Use of high density gases and chemicals that breakdown into their most basic elements is yet another way to get the most thrust out of your rockets.

The temperature of the gas as it exit’s the nozzle of the rocket is also important. The temperature of the rocket exhaust affects how fast the gas not only escapes the nozzle but also how much thrust will be lost to the atmosphere the rocket is traveling through. If the rocket exhaust is not close to the ambient pressure of the surrounding atmosphere then thrust will be sapped away as the atmosphere interferes with the exhaust.

Other factors relating to rocket efficiency include the size and shape of the nozzle as well as the speed of the craft. A rocket is most efficient when you are traveling at if not greater than the speed of the exhaust being shot out of the rocket.

As the combustion temperatures of the rocket typically is greater than the melting temperatures of the metals used to make the motor special consideration has to be given to cooling the rocket. There are in fact dozens of ways though to keep your rocket from melting itself. From simply using it in short bursts to lining the combustion chamber and nozzle with a material that will gradually burn away before the temperature gets high enough to melt the engine to using the heat from the exhaust to heat the fuel/use the cold exhaust to cool the engine.

As you can see a rocket is not that complicated though getting one to work best for your application may seem like more art than science at times.

Want to Build a Space Ship? Here is what you'll need.

In 1946 in writer Willey Lay was the first to give a detailed account of the technologies required to complete a manned mission to the moon or other planets in our solar system. In an illustration by Frank Tinsley accompanying the article, I found a spark that has burned within me since. The different technologies used in the craft were available even back then.

A propulsion system based off of beefed up V-2 rocket motors. Airlocks from submarines, and pressure controls from the Boeing Stratocruiser. Even the technology for spacesuits had been developed in the 1930’s by adventurer’s such as Auguste Piccard and Alexander Dahl flying ballons into earth’s stratosphere.

The main components you will need building a spaceship include:
Propulsion
Lifesupport
Astronavigation

While the major players in Space travel all use rockets to escape earth’s gravity. The method used by Richard Branson and Paul Allen’s Virgin Galactic uses a mothership to carry it to high altitude then releases it to rocket it way into space. Until the days of anti-gravity or space elevators(next week would be nice), some form of rocket propulsion is going to be the best way to get off Earth and out exploring the Solar System.

Life support systems are only important on Spacecraft with life on them. But when needed they are quite necessary additions to the ship. Life support systems include atmosphere and temperature controls, which are used in high altitude balloons and submarines. Depending on the length of the missions other systems must be constructed.

Missions of more than a few hours will require bathroom facilities like on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station that suck away body waste. Missions of more than a few days need sleeping arrangements basically sleeping bags that are attached to something. Since bones decay without the stress of gravity on them machines will need to be built that will exercise all of the body. Exercise bikes and resistance bands, whatever can be found to keep the bones stressed enough to keep from deteriorating.

Craft that leave orbit will need radiation protection as solar winds may occasionally drive unhealthy levels of radiation towards the craft. These can be built using similar methods used in the construction of fallout shelters. Figure out the radiation danger of the part of space you will be flying through and use basic material thickness guides to build a cell somewhere in the ship that can protect your crew during a solar storm. It may also be necessary to protect your ships computers from radiation in the solar winds. Not just the corrosive effects of radiation but also any electromagnetic damage that may occur. Military planes used during the cold war often had special flight computers made using vacuum tubes for similar reasons.

The astronavigation systems used on Lay’s hypothetical manned spaceship used an earth based radio network to find where his craft was. He would radio earth and they would focus their telescopes on his signal until they had found his exact position. Today astronavigation is more similar to navigation here on earth, where the positions of stars in the sky is used to find your position. A method that would have been impossible until the invention of the IC chip.